Costs may be rising, but not for contraceptives

While the economy may be jeopardizing several things such as the stability of the housing market, low gas prices, and the affordability of basic living expenses. There is actually one item that is soon going to get less expensive and more available: Contraception.

Luckily, legislation has passed making contraceptives more available and affordable.

In 2005, Congress passed the Deficit Reduction Act, which cut off a number of college and university health centers from obtaining contraception and it has now been changed.

Planned Parenthood is a huge supporter of this change. "The passing of today's legislation is a victory for women's health and especially for women who have struggled to afford the rising costs of basic contraception in these tough economic times," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Another issue that Planned Parenthood addresses is sex education for teenagers. The REAL Act (Responsible Education About Life) will authorize federal funding for comprehensive, medically-accurate, age-appropriate sex education for young people to educate them on how to prevent pregnancy and protect themselves from sexually-transmitted diseases as well as making responsible and healthy decisions.
LINK -- http://www.plannedparenthood.org/newsroom/press-releases/planned-parenthood-federation-america-applauds-sen-lautenberg-rep-lee-introduction-real-act-bil-24022.htm

There currently aren't any federally-funded programs directed toward this cause. However, the Bush administration received $1.5 billion in funding towards abstinence programs that have statistically been proven to fail.

Studies done by Mathematica (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041301003.html), The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy (http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/EA2007/EA2007release_FINAL.pdf), The Guttmacher Institute (http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2008/09/16/index.html), and the University of Washington (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2004293974_sexed20m.html) prove, in my opinion, that abstinence is not the best route to preach in sex education.

With a rising teen pregnancy rate and a worsening economy, we still need to teach students through sex education to make responsible decisions -- as well as making contraceptives affordable so that they may be used.